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Topic: ND tuition frreeze? (Read 2262 times)

VIEWPOINT: N.D. should freeze tuitions for two yearsBy Mac Schneider, Grand Forks HeraldPublished Thursday, April 03, 2008GRAND FORKS — About this time in 2002, I was getting ready to graduate from UND. The cap-and-gown order was in, the invitations were in the mail, and my camera-happy mom was eagerly awaiting the day I would get my diploma.

That May, I walked across the stage with hundreds of my friends and classmates before heading off to an internship in Washington, feeling lucky to have had such a high-quality education.

The icing on the cake was that I graduated debt-free. Between help from my family, a few part-time jobs and a modest athletic scholarship, I was able to afford the $3,261 in tuition and mandatory fees my senior year without taking on student loans that would have limited my choices after graduation.

For the class of 2008, it’s a different story. These soon-to-be graduates have had to pay $6,130 to complete their last year of college.

I majored in history, not mathematics. But if I’ve done my long division correctly, that amounts to a nearly 88 percent increase in tuition and fees in a little over half a decade.

Now there are indications that tuition could go even higher. Today, the State Board of Higher Education is likely to vote on a university system budget that would let campuses increase tuition by as much as 4 percent a year for the next two years.

While the board has correctly identified many important priorities in its proposal, including much-needed pay increases for faculty and staff, further burdening our students and their families in a time of sizeable budget surpluses is neither fair nor a good policy.

The board, the governor and the Legislature should work with campus leaders to enact a tuition freeze for the next two years while using a small portion of our state’s budget surplus to make sure our institutions can continue creating jobs and conducting cutting-edge research.

Here is the case for capping tuition in this way:

A portion of North Dakota’s budget surplus, which is projected to reach $630 million or more, has been created by the students themselves. Notably, the student loan portfolio at the Bank of North Dakota totaled $561 million in 2006.

In part because of the profits earned from these loans, the bank contributed $60 million to the state’s budget. Students can make a very valid claim next session that, as a matter of fairness, the profits generated from student loans should be used to make college more affordable.

From a policy standpoint, requiring North Dakota students to take out more loans does not make sense, especially in a state that is battling to keep its young professionals here at home. One recent national study found that North Dakota ranks 14th in the nation in average student debt. Wages, while increasing, are still below the national average. This forces students to follow the terms of their loans rather than their aspirations, often taking the students out of North Dakota for good.

Putting the breaks on tuition increases is also a matter of staying competitive. Montana, under the leadership of Gov. Brian Schweitzer, recently halted tuition increases for two years while also limiting the rise in mandatory fees. To keep our edge, North Dakota should do the same.

If we do, we’ll limit student debt in the short term while our state considers creative ways to match efforts around the country aimed at limiting or eliminating student loans. Even better, we’ll see future graduating classes walk across the stage unencumbered by excessive debt and into rewarding careers right here in North Dakota.

Schneider, a UND law student, is a Democratic candidate for the North Dakota Senate in Grand Forks’ District 42, which encompasses UND.

+1. UND's out of state tuition is about the equivilant cost of owning a railroad. And driving a shiny new truck with all of the neato accessories, tricking it out for serious off road. You know... maybe some 38"s and a nice 10 inch lift kit on it.

and then parking it on the railroad tracks in front of one of your pricey speeding bullet trains.

+1. UND's out of state tuition is about the equivilant cost of owning a railroad. And driving a shiny new truck with all of the neato accessories, tricking it out for serious off road. You know... maybe some 38"s and a nice 10 inch lift kit on it.

and then parking it on the railroad tracks in front of one of your pricey speeding bullet trains.